Basic Trope: Getting revenge doesn't give any characters the satisfaction they hoped.
- Straight: Alan plots to get back against Bob for bullying him for all of these years in high school, but as soon as he murders him, it made him feel empty inside.
- Exaggerated: Alan plots to kill Bob for brutally murdering his family by killing him, his family, friends, and his pitbull, but as he already done this, he has become a shell of his former self.
- Downplayed:
- Alan plans to give Bob A Taste of Their Own Medicine by humiliating him in front of the public, but this doesn't satisfy Alan whatsoever.
- Alan only barely feels satisfied about his revenge.
- Justified:
- The attack on Bob was taken too far; Alan felt that even he didn't deserve that.
- Alan finds out there's nothing left for him to do now that he's accomplished his revenge.
- Alan's quest for revenge has caused severe harm on those who didn't deserve it.
- Alan feels that his revenge isn't effective enough to satisfy him, and feels Bob got off too easily.
- Bob doesn't remember what he did to Alan.
- Alan takes his revenge over a long period of time. Eventually, he has gotten bored with it.
- Alan has never planned anything beyond his revenge, so now that he's achieved it, he simply doesn't know what to do with himself.
- Even if Alan got his revenge, what Bob did to him was still a reminder of the grievance he's avenging in the first place.
- Alan found out that Bob was Too Broken to Break and that, if anything, Alan did him a favor by giving him someone to blame for his misfortune in his final moments.
- Inverted:
- Revenge is Sweet
- Alan's friends encourage him to get revenge on Bob when he doesn't believe it will make him feel better. But once he does, Alan finds solace in the fact that he prevented Bob from becoming a Karma Houdini.
- Alan finds his revenge on Bob satisfying but it was so satisfying he can't find anything else that will make him that happy again.
- Alan has forgiven Bob for all of the years he made his childhood miserable, but after this, this made him felt unsatisfied.
- Subverted: When Claire asks Alan how does he feel about getting back at Bob, it were to seem Alan feels unhappy, but he tells her that he feels great.
- Double Subverted: It was only a lie: deep down inside, Alan is totally unsatisfied.
- Parodied:
- Alan plots to get back all of those who abused him by throwing them all into a pit of sticky goo; this includes Bob, Diane, Emil, his own friends, his own parents, and a random asshole behind the computer. After executing his revenge, Alan literally becomes an emotionless robot.
- Alan feels unsatisfied because he didn't get to kill Bob with a gatling gun.
- Zig Zagged: There are times where Alan feels uneasy after exacting his revenge, and there are times where Alan feels great about it.
- Averted: Getting revenge makes Alan feel satisfied as he hoped. Now that he has one less thing to worry about and knows that he has other things going for him, he moves on with his life.
- Enforced:
- The author wants to deliver An Aesop about Revenge and how it won't make anyone feel better about themselves.
- The author wants to execute a Bittersweet Ending of a revenge story.
- Lampshaded:
- "I thought you were going to feel better after giving Bob his just desserts."
- "I got back at Bob for all the trouble he caused me... And yet, why don't I feel better?"
- Invoked:
- "So, vengeance huh? Brilliant! I'm genuinely fascinated by what will become of you after you get it, Alan!"
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!
- Exploited: Bob lures Alan into letting him kill him for what he has done to him only for the sake of making him feeling unhappy for the long run, proving that he was proud of the past harassment he has inflicted on Alan.
- Defied:
- Claire warns Alan not to get back at Bob otherwise this trope will be in effect.
- Whenever he feels remorse or doubt, Alan reminds himself why Bob fully deserves his punishment and how the world is better off without him.
- The people whom Bob hurt over the years, as well as the family members of those whom Bob murdered, learn what Alan did. They all come to Alan's house to thank him sincerely for putting Bob in the ground, and that gratitude gives Alan the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment he had been looking for all this time.
- Alan remembers to have a plan for his life after his revenge to make sure he never asks himself So What Do We Do Now?. Waiting for while might also help if he's not in a rush to do it. Maybe it could help him give Bob a more appropriate punishment.
- Discussed:
- "So Alan got his revenge and is not happy? That's just messed up."
- "I'm guessing that getting whatever you want won't satisfy you in the long run, and that includes revenge."
- Conversed:
- "Is it me or does it seem that the writer wants a Downer Ending for Alan for get payback against a bully?"
- "I was expecting a happy ending of a great revenge story, but it ends with Alan feeling unhappy about it. What a waste of money!"
- Implied: After learning about the revenge, one of Alan's friends congratulates him for ridding the world of Bob. Alan states he doesn't want to talk about it.
- Deconstructed:
- Alan's dissatisfaction of his revenge on Bob has lead him to lose his sanity and alienate those around him, to the degree he committed suicide for measure.
- His friends warned him not to take vengeance knowing this would happen, angering them and causing them to lose any sympathy for him because he coldly brushed off their words. After he's finally proven wrong, he is abandoned, lonely, and broken from then on out.
- Because Alan didn't feel anything when he got his revenge, this infuriates Madeline who was Bob's Morality Pet / Morality Chain, who saw Alan's revenge quest ultimately meaningless by this point and that he didn't get the revenge he desired. She in turn seeks revenge on Alan for wasting his own vengeance and Bob's redeemed life, perpetuating the Cycle of Revenge.
- Reconstructed:
- Now that Alan knows what it's like to have the vengeance he always wanted, he swears off revenge entirely and opts to either move on with his life, or become an advocate against revenge for those with similar situations and steer them away from revenge.
- His friends realize that aside of simply telling him not to get revenge, they never really tried to understand what he's been through nor console him when he needed it, which led to him brushing off their warnings and committing revenge. This prompts them to seek out Alan and forgive and/or apologize to him for their own actions, rekindling their friendship.
- Madeline stops herself when she realizes she could end up just like Alan and earn someone else's ire, and finds that getting revenge on Alan won't really bring Bob back, so she decides not to get caught up in emptiness like Alan.
- Vengeance feels empty because that's not what the revenge seeker actually wants. To someone seeking vengeance for the murder of their parents, but what they actually want is their parents back, of course vengeance will not solve anything; it's just something borne out of anger and impulsiveness and not addressing the root issue. But someone seeking vengeance, knowing what they want is to inflict equal emotional trauma of losing their loved ones, and seeing the original perpetrator suffer... they might get satisfaction from vengeance.
- Played For Drama:
- Alan's deadly revenge on Bob made him unsatisfied that he is later Driven to Suicide before Bob's friends could ever find him and kill him.
- Bob hasn't gotten any better since high school, and is now a dangerous criminal. After a brutal fight between them, Alan ultimately kills Bob in self-defense. While he's not satisfied with his revenge, Bob still could have killed him instead.
Now that you've finally made it this far, did you get that satisfaction that you wanted? Maybe you should go back to Vengeance Feels Empty if you didn't.
